


to our common future

by saltwater



Category: Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Domestic, Future Fic, Gen, Other, Spoilers, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-28
Updated: 2013-01-28
Packaged: 2017-11-27 07:21:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/659358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saltwater/pseuds/saltwater
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s been ten years or so since the Jabberwock Islands and they are thirty. Spoilers, spoilers everywhere.</p>
            </blockquote>





	to our common future

**Author's Note:**

> Everything here is purely headcanon. I'm not too familiar with some characters and the timeline may be a bit wonky; I hope they're all not too off the mark! After all, depicting them after Chapter 6 is a little tricky...also, I am not a mechanic, an animal breeder or a princess, really sorry for any inaccuracies /creys

It’s been ten years or so since the Jabberwock Islands and they are thirty.

 _Old_ is what Sonia calls them all jokingly, and Souda agrees. He’s no longer the Super High School Level Mechanic he once was, but now a full-fledged member of the Future Foundation and using his skills to help the world. Souda feels that this is already more than what he could have done as a child, more than what he ever asked for from the gods of the universe.

His dad is proud of him, and that’s all that matters.

Sonia is no longer a princess, but a queen. She now has to split her time between leading her country as well as assisting the Foundation in their research, but despite that she still continues collecting occult magazines - has them imported directly from all over the world, in fact.

Tanaka joins Souda in the Foundation. Like Souda, he is tasked to fly overseas on projects, often involving rescuing or taming wildlife. It’s rare that they are ever on the same job assignment together, because they work in vastly different fields. Souda calls Tanaka a regular park ranger and Tanaka just snarks at him in return. 

Like ten years ago, of course, the three of them are still together.

 

 

 

It starts with a dull throbbing behind his skull, before the jolts of electric pain come and it feels like someone is forcing his mind open, peeling the bone of his skull down like an orange, before the white light behind his eyelids explodes into startling black and all of his memories flood in, like water from a bursting dam.

Not all of them are pleasant. In fact, few of them are, if at all. 

Souda gasps, doubling over where he sits, drawing shaking knees to his tightening chest. Images flash behind his eyes - his father, the people surrounding him in middle school, everyone he ever knew from Kibougamine. Kamukura - no, _Hinata_. Tanaka. Sonia.

But they aren’t (are) the Tanaka and Sonia he knows (knew). Yet.

“Souda.”

From beside him resounds a voice that he recognizes. It brings up memories of another boy - not his classmate, but a boy in another course, far away - with his strong gaze and hopeful eyes. It also brings up memories of the same boy, different now, with black hair that trails down his face and back; red eyes that see nothing and hope for nothing.

Souda raises his head, and is hardly surprised to see Kamukura beside him.

“Yo,” he says, even as his memories of a time spent in despair start falling into place one by one.

Kamukura is a murderer, a killer. But then - so is he. Souda remembers blood on his hands and remembers he had felt no guilt. It hardly fazes him; it just slides into his mind without so much as a quiet ‘oh’.

He watches the person across him carefully - Super High School Level Hope.

“No, wait.” Souda blinks. He notices something different about Kamukura’s eyes. “You’re not him.”

His memories of despair trickle to a halt. Filled up, all returned. On top of those, Souda starts to remember - 

The first day they all met, on that beach.

The last day they spent there in that world, in a trial that would decide the fate of humanity.

And against all odds, they had chosen to live on.

Regaining his memories makes Souda feel a little off, like he had stumbled onto a treasure chest locked deep underground and had only recently unearthed it, reading through the chapters of his life. The pain and despair feel so shockingly real, yet at the same time, those days on the island with everyone were a part of his reality, too. Even regaining his memories as a member of Despair cannot change the irreplaceable fact that on the Jabberwock Islands he had met great friends, fallen in love, and trusted in others. 

Souda finds it impossible to stop the smile spreading across his lips. The person before him - no longer Super High School Level Hope but just _Hinata Hajime_ \- seems to stare a little, before smiling back. He understands now what Hinata had hoped for.

The past cannot be changed, but their future is a story that has yet to be written. 

Souda cannot bring back the dead - none of them can, but they can still change the future. 

They still have hope.

 

 

 

They move into a house instead of an apartment. The two-storey structure is firm and quaint with its whitewashed walls and red brick roof tiles, tucked away from the busy Tokyo roads.

Sonia had found the place - or rather, those in charge of her educational needs had informed her of its existence. 

Souda and Tanaka agree that they cannot mooch off Sonia’s country forever, and agree to split the cost between the three of them. Sonia, however, insists that this is the least she can do, seeing as the both of them are going off to college while she is to be homeschooled by the best tutors she can afford.

But the both of them will not accept it - men’s pride, Souda says - and they lock themselves away to discuss exactly how they’d be able to pay off their combined debt. Souda knows that he can easily get a job with his skillset, but what about Tanaka? There’s no way the other man can volunteer for some wildlife organization or part-time at a _pet shop_.

Tanaka just laughs and says that such positions are below a great being like himself, and that little men like Souda need not worry about his already tainted future. Souda resists the urge to slap him, but assumes that this means Tanaka already has a plan in mind. Very good.

Five cats, seven dogs, three hamsters, two parakeets and one very excited rabbit later, Souda decides that okay - not so good after all.

It’s not exactly brilliant to wake up pillowed in Sonia’s hair and simultaneously drowning in the mess of animals that have taken up residence on their bed, accompanying Tanaka to sleep. When the animal breeder said he’d ‘find lost pets for a price’, Souda hadn’t been expecting Tanaka to bring a whole zoo home on his first day. However undignified it may be, Sonia doesn’t seem to mind.

At least, grumbles Souda to himself, none of them are allergic.

 

 

 

He’s twenty-or-so, studying aerospace engineering, and working part-time at a car servicing center.

For all his grand dreams about building a rocket and flying off into the glittering universe, Souda finds himself going back to his roots as a mechanic over and over again. It’s something his father has ingrained into him, a particular sort of inclination that runs through his blood and makes up what he _is_.

Souda wipes the sweat and grease off his face, pulling back to examine the mess of wires and the oily glistening of the engine.

Holy shit, he thinks. The engines of race cars have changed over the few years he’s been away at school. Turbo-power has never looked this sleek. Souda whistles and wonders how to further improve the engine - maybe take it apart again and rebuild it himself.

The other two are doing fairly well in their own right.

Tanaka has more or less settled down studying veterinary science, and Souda is honestly surprised that his coursemates haven’t gone crazy from his yammering about demons and dark shadows and what not. He assumes that they are either very flexible people, or are as bonkers as Tanaka is. Either way, the other boy is well on his way to becoming nature’s advocate, and the world could honestly use a guy like that. The only part Souda dislikes is that Tanaka is still gathering lost pets like he’s breeding his own private furry army in their house, but at least he eventually returns them to their rightful owners.

Sonia has gotten busier with every year, because rebuilding her country is a difficult task and she has to fly abroad every so often to attend to matters. Sometimes, she doesn’t even return to Japan for months. Souda’s sure that one of these days they’d not see each other at all, not until years later, and he’s alright with that. The old him would have thrown a fit - somewhere inside him, he’s still disappointed - but Souda understands that the responsibilities Sonia bears are far different from his and Tanaka’s. Sonia is being trained and schooled to become a good, kind leader. Souda believes in her.

He believes in all of them, in fact.

Hinata calls once in awhile to catch up. Souda asks him about Komaeda, whom Hinata gripes is the worst roommate ever, because shit like having the ceiling cave in one day and then striking the lottery the next has become a weird ritual. Komaeda doesn’t quite know what to do with his Good Luck either. At least it makes for interesting gaming sessions when the both of them attempt something they’d heard Nanami mention during their island days, and Komaeda either loses horribly or clears everything by ridiculous near-misses.

Souda isn’t quite sure why but he tends to see Kuzuryuu on the streets quite often, sometimes accompanied by Pekoyama. Yakuza business, the other boy would say. Souda isn’t sure that gangsters wander the streets in broad daylight, but Kuzuryuu always corrects him that these days, they have to upgrade and modernize a little. They’ve expanded into the bodyguard business. Pekoyama, Souda notes, is possibly the motivation behind this shift. Kuzuryuu blushes whenever Souda brings that up, and Souda leers. 

He seldom hears anything about Owari or Nidai, but it isn’t just him. The two hardly contact anyone else about whatever they’re up to, though Souda can probably guess why. Owari can’t tell a cellphone’s back from its front, and Nidai is probably busy managing her gymnastics career. Everyone thinks they’ll both end up ridiculously successful with their combined strength, and Souda agrees wholeheartedly.

Saionji drops by sometimes on weekends at odd times of the month, and Souda has to contend with her bullying - as usual - but he notices that the girl has mellowed out a bit after time. She’s a lot more mature now, holding herself with the poise and grace of a dancer. Souda finds out quickly that she’s become a renowned stage performer, and might even expand her career overseas. Unfortunately, her mouth is as crass as ever, and Souda honestly wonders where she learns half her vocabulary from.

He learns from Saionji that Koizumi has gone straight to work as a freelancer, and that her pictures are even better now that she’s had the opportunity to travel around the world to experience the sights, sounds, and different perspectives of different countries and cultures. Saionji sounds half proud and half jealous of the other girl. Souda can understand why.

Souda knows where Mioda is, because he sees her on campus sometimes. They’re in the same university though not the same facility, because Mioda is pursuing her music studies there. He stops by her side of the university sometimes after his classes, when he knows she’ll be in the clubroom making a huge racket behind closed doors. She tries to get him to join every time (‘Ibuki thinks Souda would make a G-R-E-A-T rockstar, because Souda already has the hairstyle and the right color!’) but he refuses to. Mioda’s enthusiasm can be a bit frightening. 

Mioda mentions once that she’s heard from the girls that Tsumiki’s entered the medical field as a professional and is working as a nurse full-time at one of the biggest hospitals in Japan. Souda joins in her talk and updates her on what the guys are up to, and the two of them trade information all the time. Mioda calls Souda her accomplice; Souda begs to differ. They’re just doing business. 

Contrastingly, Souda rarely hears from Hanamura. The other boy seems to be in contact with the girls more often - he knows, because Sonia mentions his name sometimes when him and Tanaka join her for dinner in the house. She wishes they could invite him over one of these days to cook for them, when he takes time off from managing his family’s chain of restaurants. It takes Souda and Tanaka all of one shared glance to decide that this would only happen if they were both there too, because Hanamura still cannot be trusted around members of the opposite sex. 

And there’s Togami - _their_ Togami - whom Souda has not heard a peep of, not since the islands. He asks Hinata and Mioda about him, but neither of them know anything either. ‘Byakuya-chan’, according to Mioda, has probably started working with the Future Foundation. It’s a guess as good as any other. Hinata seems to agree when Souda consults Mioda’s idea with him. None of them have any way of contacting any of the Foundation members at the moment, so the most they can do is speculate and wait for news.

In the meantime, they carry on with their lives, chasing their respective dreams. 

 

 

 

Souda wonders how long it’s been since their Despair days.

He laughs drily at the realization that practically nothing has changed between him and Tanaka; they’ve always been fighting. Tooth and claw, the fierce war of technology versus nature. They always rope in Sonia to be their judge as they have at each other. Souda laughs with more mirth when he realizes that he’s always liked the princess. Angel or demon, tyrant or leader, he doesn’t care. It’s built into his character to like her, as it also runs in his veins that Tanaka is some sort of mortal enemy. The other boy seems to agree. 

These days, their fights are more tame. Less blood, less dirt under their fingernails, less broken bones. But they squabble over the most mundane of things with the same ferocity to make up for it. 

Sonia asks if a part of them misses those days of despair and violence. Souda just tells her that no, she’s wrong, they don’t fight because they want to go back to that time. Tanaka agrees; says that they’re different people now. They’ve changed. Sonia looks at them, confused, not really getting it.

Souda shrugs sheepishly. Their fights have nothing to do with hope or despair.

Tanaka agrees with that. It’s just what they do.

 

 

 

Their next contact with the Foundation comes unexpectedly a few years later.

Naegi extends an invitation to them - all of them - one day, when they’re gathered in a neat little meeting room belong to the Future Foundation, seated around a round table.

He asks them to join their ranks, to use their talents to help save the future.

Sonia immediately accepts without hesitation. Which means that Souda has no choice but to say ‘yes’ as well, and Tanaka will follow.

Souda finds the suits and ties unsuitable for a man in his field of work, but Kirigiri tells him it’s all just formality. Where Souda will go, he doesn’t need the suit. But he should keep it on just to maintain the Foundation’s image anyway. Formalities. Souda begrudgingly agrees to it, but strips down to a simpler set of shirt and pants whenever he can.

Tanaka, on the other hand, flat-out refuses to dress formal at all. Apparently someone as special and lofty as he, the revered Demon Lord, shouldn’t have to be lowered to the level of looking like everyone else. Such an insult. In response, Souda can’t help but point out that even in a suit, Tanaka’s makeup and sheer lack of eyebrows would make him stand out more than enough as it is. And the hamsters. Who can forget the Four Dark Gods of Destruction? Besides, it’s not as if the other Foundation members don’t manage to look wonderfully unique despite the suits. 

“Look at Hagakure’s hair,” says Souda, “it’s on it’s way to becoming another Foundation member on its own!”

Beside him, Kirigiri makes a noise behind her gloved hand that sounds like a suppressed snort. Tanaka just glares viciously at the hairstyle in question. Souda’s convinced that the animal breeder thinks that it’s some kind of demon-breeding nest. Across the both of them, Sonia starts following Tanaka’s all-too-obvious gaze and shoots Souda a look that clearly indicates that he should try to get Tanaka to stop, because staring is rude. Souda wants to pretend he didn’t meet Sonia’s eyes, but this is his princess he’s talking about. Ignoring her is impossible.

He nudges Tanaka in the ribs. 

“Oi, oi,” Souda starts, completely unprepared, “I think one of the hamsters, uh, Maga-G is missing.”

 _Now_ he has Tanaka’s undivided attention and Souda isn’t quite sure what to do with it. The other man looks absolutely horrified, and seems to be deciding between diving under the table to look for the hamster, or shaking Souda by the shoulders. Souda would rather Tanaka opt for the former.

“Er,” says Souda, “I said ‘I think’...?”

Tanaka just glares venomously at him. “Hamster? No, Maga-G is a Dark God of Destruction, not just a mere hamster!” He announces, loud enough for everyone to hear. “His harmless image is but a disguise for the true horror that lowly beings such as you are not fit to witness! Only I, the great Tanaka Gundam, whose right eye -”

Souda stares. Chuunibyou, apparently, is a whole new language unto itself.

“Tanaka,” he cuts in, because they’re obviously attracting attention and the whole room is painfully silent, “do you know where your hamster is or not!?”

Tanaka huffs arrogantly, arms crossed over his chest. His purple muffler seems to flap in the non-existent wind. Souda’s convinced it’s like Hagakure’s hair; that thing is alive.

“Of course,” Tanaka announces, just as Maga-G pops his head out of the muffler beside Tanaka’s cheek, chittering loudly. “I always know where my loyal subjects are.”

Souda turns back to Sonia, who’s giggling at Tanaka’s ridiculous statement. The both of them meet each other’s gaze and Sonia smiles back pleasantly.

Well, Souda thinks, at least she’s happy.

 

 

 

It takes Souda years to call Sonia just ‘Sonia’ without the ‘-san’, and even longer for him to even attempt calling Tanaka ‘Gundam’. He succeeds at the first and fails at the second. Tanaka is always just ‘Tanaka’ to him. Calling the other man by his first name just brings up images of giant robots in Souda’s mechanized mind. Besides, it isn’t as if Tanaka ever tries to use _his_ first name anyway, right?

Wrong.

“Kazuichi,” Tanaka spits out his name like he’s choking on something. “I-I, er.”

Souda looks up from his dinner with an incredulous expression sliding onto his face, while his stomach starts to roil and he thinks - _oh my god_. Between them at the head of the table is Sonia, who tries not to laugh into her mashed potatoes. Tanaka, across Souda, starts staring intently at the table as if willing it to vaporize from his gaze. Souda’s everything feels like it’s slowly being set on fire. 

“Okay,” he says, because this is strange and his mouth is suddenly paper-dry. They’ve known each other for years and neither of them have ever been on first name terms. “Yeah.”

Tanaka sinks further into his muffler, wrapped around him like a resolute shield against the world. Souda clears his throat awkwardly. The look on Sonia’s face tells him that this is all probably her fault and he thinks it is adorable of her to try, but this is just not happening.

Not so soon, at least.

“Here,” Souda says, and promptly dumps all his carrots onto Tanaka’s plate. The other man shoots him a horrified look. Souda grins back like the devil.

“What are you doing!?”

Souda shrugs, standing up and pushing his chair aside. “They’re good for you,” he says, and clears his plate before making for the kitchen. 

He stops by Sonia and leans down to whisper to her, “Don’t tell that guy to do weird things like that!”

In return, all Souda gets is a bright-eyed stare and an amused quirk of the lips from the platinum blond beauty he’s been in love with since as long as he can remember. Sonia laughs softly, keeping her tone low.

“You’ve got it wrong,” she says, eyes twinkling. “It was Tanaka’s idea.”

Souda nearly drops his plate but somehow manages not to. He raises his gaze. Tanaka is still not looking at him, and the parts of his cheeks peeking over the dark purple muffler are colored a distinct tint of pink. Souda feels his own face flaring up, and tries not to think about it. Somewhere in the background Sonia laughs, the sound light and distant.

“Oi,” Souda finds himself saying.

Tanaka’s stare drops down to the floor.

“...Gundam.”

Shit, now he’s done it.

They spend a long, dreadful moment staring at each other in nothing less than dumbfounded shock. Souda feels like slamming his face into the plate he’s still holding from sheer embarrassment. Tanaka goes impossibly redder and the muffler is all but hiding his entire face now - an old habit. Sonia is gazing at the both of them expectantly and Souda has no idea what to do next.

“Eat all of those,” he finishes lamely, gesturing forcefully at the pile of carrots on Tanaka’s plate, still untouched. Souda tries to keep his voice from coming out too squeaky. 

Tanaka shoots him a burning stare that seems to ask: since when were you a health freak? _Why carrots?_ Souda ignores him. He heads straight to the kitchen, not daring to turn around. All he hears in his mind is his name, muttered over and over in Tanaka’s low and clumsy tone that he has grown fond of over time.

When he thinks of that, Souda can’t keep the smile off his lips.

 

 

 

Sonia has her eyes set on a fluffy little kitten with fur the color of pure white snow. She looks so starstruck gazing through the glass at the sleeping thing, that Souda finds himself unable to look away from her. He knows instinctively that Tanaka is also staring, and is probably also having a minor heart attack over the kitten. 

Souda asks Sonia if she wants a cat, because it isn’t as if either of them are allergic and Tanaka can help out with the messy bits like toilet-training and making sure it grows up well. This is one one of those times where it pays to have an animal breeder on their side. And besides, thinks Souda, Tanaka is better off trying to commune with a cat than crouching down beside public ponds and talking to koi.

He casts a glance at the animal breeder in question. Souda is hardly surprised to find that Tanaka practically has his face pressed up against the glass display window, and is engaged in a glaring competition with the kitten that had just woken up.

It takes Souda awhile to get Tanaka’s attention, even with Sonia’s repeated calls of ‘Tanaka!’ to aid him. But when the other man finally tears his gaze away from the mass of snowy fur, one look at his face instantly confirms Souda’s suspicions.

“So,” he starts, “what did the hairball say?”

Tanaka nods at him. Souda raises an eyebrow in return. He’s never quite gotten the hang of this whole Animal Whisperer stuff. “Yeah? What is it?”

“It likes you,” Tanaka says to Sonia.

The next day, their house is filled with clutter, pet food, and a brand new Scottish Fold named Musashi (courtesy of Sonia) who insists on occupying the couch and rubbing his fur all over the cushions.

 

 

 

While working for the Foundation, Tanaka grows out of his middle school sickness. But every now and then, Souda catches him swearing under his breath something about the ‘dark world’, and how a great Demon Lord like him would use his cursed powers to obliterate any insolent clients in his path. More often than not, Souda finds Tanaka cursing like that while turning their place inside-out, because apparently his Kingdom has extended to the whole house and Musashi has gone missing again.

Some things, Souda decides, just never change.

 

 

 

Souda swaps his contacts out for a regular pair of glasses. It makes his job easier, not having to stop for eyedrops, or to have to escape to the bathroom whenever something gets into his eyes. A mechanic doesn’t need to look pretty, he reasons. He’s put his past behind him. It takes awhile to adjust to the weight of the black-rimmed glasses, to feel it sliding down the bridge of his nose. Souda takes them off every once in awhile out of sheer frustration. But he gets used to it. According to Sonia he looks a lot better in them, more natural, and the compliment makes Souda grin wide. Tanaka seems to find Souda a bit of an anomaly at first, but Souda can tell that the other man likes it. He doesn’t mind the way the both of them look at him now, with glasses on.

He quite likes the change himself.

 

 

 

Tanaka keeps his eyebrows shaved. The reason for this, Souda assumes, is because if they grew back now after years of shaving them off, they’d look more like hairy growths than actual eyebrows. Sonia would probably have a fit. Besides, Souda has seen Tanaka so much over the last decade of his life that he’s practically got the man memorized - and to see him with eyebrows is odd. He finds that he’s used to this version of Tanaka, the one halfway into proper adulthood, a foot still caught in childish adolescence; the Tanaka that’s riding out his middle-age crisis together with him and Sonia. No eyebrows on this Tanaka, Souda decides.

He likes him just the way he is.

 

 

 

It would be unfair to ask Souda what he thought of Sonia because to him, Sonia is always perfect. Fallible, yes, but that only made her more perfect in his eyes. There was no way to dissuade him from the idea. Sonia wears her hair both long and short through her transition from princess to queen. Souda prefers her long, braided hairstyle best. It reminds him of the first time they met in Kibougamine Academy. It reminds him of many things, both good and bad. He can tell that his shock of dyed pink hair reminds Sonia of the same, from the way her gaze seems to go right through him as she recalls a time long past. Souda pats her on the head and tells her not to mind it too much. It’s been so long but he still remembers her too, from back then, from a darker time. Tanaka as well. But some things change, Souda continues. Despair can change into hope.

The three of them are proof enough.

 


End file.
